Better than expected

This is a decent book whose narrators did a fantastic job. All the narrators gave a solid performance and made each character distinguishable. I only had a few instances where a character either seemed to cut off or had their dialogue start too early. The story was entertaining as well, with an interesting twist on the good vs. evil idea and what awaits us in purgatory. I couldn't really get behind the main character. He's not poorly written or portrayed as a horrible guy, but there was just something about him that made me not want to root for him. At times it felt like he was a little too fortunate with the loot/ companions he received. With that being said, I still enjoyed his adventure and the companions/friends he made, Even though I did not root for him, I enjoyed listening to how he & his party solved issues they encountered in and out of the dungeon.

If you are debating on getting the book I'd say give it a shot. Each character sounds unique, the premise is interesting and the LITRPG side of the book is well done.

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this book surprised me a lot!

I enjoyed this book alot, great story and character development. I enjoyed the narrator too

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Excellent Story Arc and Twists

Yes! Purgatory in audiobook form with good narration. I read this book in a sea of LitRPG on Kindle Unlimited and it stood out as one of the few books where I felt appreciable character growth in a MC not just stat growth. Also it gave me what we LitRPG fans love above all else novelty, it has a couple excellent twists.

How does Purgatory compare to other LitRPGs?

Let's get to brass tacks here. Purgatory is a great LitRPG, around top 10% if I had to ballpark it. It isn't as expansive, funny, and all around entertaining as something like Dungeon Crawler Carl nor is it as rote, recycled or meh as system apocalypse book #104. You might still read #104, the main character would have a unique class, he would be responsible for building some new town, and on and on. Purgatory is better than that but it doesn't have the scope (yet) to reach the best in genre.

I know I know at this point you are probably rolling you eyes saying "I get it the book is good, just tell me about it already!". Screw you, read the description buddy! Just kidding.

Purgatory is mostly a solo leveling adventure through you guessed it purgatory 2.0 with a trusty guide companion. Think Shadeslinger although not quite the full Frank. Frankly though (get it), the beginning and setup to the story kind of sucks. It treats Christianity with a kind of casualness that authors often treat other religions. As Ramon from the LitRPG podcast says in the Amazon reviews it also has a hill to climb because people typically don't like angels/devils books (me included). Purgatory is good enough that is proven my expectations wrong, if you can suspend your disbelief (or skip) the setup it is more than worth it.

TWISTS! It is all about those twists, full M. Night Shyamalan baby. Ok it isn't just all twists but in this story wow are they powerful. One of the best things an author can do to us long time LitRPG readers/listeners is surprise us. Subverting expectations is getting harder and harder. Purgatory did that in a way that will crack the hardened exterior of even the most jaded 10x speed listener.

Overall well worth the credit, can't wait for book 2.

Disclaimer: I read this book on Kindle Unlimited and got a free copy of the audio version from a giveaway because I remembered it was awesome and hoped it would come to audio.

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Can't Wait For Book Two

I honestly did not know what to expect when starting this book. The book was well written and the narration was outstanding.

I am hoping there is another one to come.

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Not what I was expecting...

This really wasn't what I was expecting, I liked this book alot, It was way better than I thought it would be.

the Narration is really good, like really good. I like all the voices, and the narrators did a really good job. You could tell the voices apart, and there voices weren't annoying.
Overall the Narration in this book is top tier.

The characters in this book are nice. His friends were written very well, and I think they have alot of depth to them. I felt a connection with his divine calls, and the other characters. The Mc is also cool, i really liked him. He is written way better than most mcs.
The character development is also really good, you can see him change throughout the series, facing his sins and growing from them. Each lesson taught is something I agreed with, and I feel like I learned somethings from this book.
Victor really changed fundamentally as a person, and if there's a book 2 I can't wait to see what he becomes.
So overall the character development and the characters themselves are 5 star.
there wasn't much character plot, that reason being he's mostly by himself for most of the book, I actually really like that. it's a nice solo listen, and I really enjoyed it.
It's also a nice change of pace when it comes to the character build, I usually don't listen to books where the Mc is a knight, but this one is an exception. i also love the skill progression, there is alot of it and I loved every bit of it.
I'd also like to say this book reminds me of hades, not alot but just a little.

When we talk about the plot, it's okay, I can't really see it. if we are really gonna get into it. I think it's good to say the storyline was good, not the plot but the storyline. I feel like it's detailed and better than most. especially at the end, I was enthralled in the book, and I was just hoping there was more.
when we talk about world building, I also like it. I love the way the world is built, and how it works. I love the litrpg aspect, and I think the world has alot of detail in it. Now I think there are somethings people are thinking about, so I'm gonna clear up any confusion.
He uses a mace and a shield, at first thought I didn't really like it because I'm more of a sword type of guy, but it all plays out and it was a different type of book than what I listen to.
He dies and gets put into purgatory, he knows about litrpgs and has played them before, to go to heaven he has to clear the tower. The tower has a level for each sin, that means 7 levels for 7 different sins. The mc isn't all alone when he's diving, he has divine calls. Basically just spirit guides that help him. No its not like a master hunter k, outside of the tower there are people, and yes he has human friends outside the towers, yes its like a battle between lucifer and God, so you can expect the angels and the demons and all of that stuff. Yes the litrpg aspect of this book is pretty typical and you won't be confused about anything.
Mc is also 51, but in this book his age doesn't really matter. he spends alot of time in purgatory.

I don't know if I answered everything people would he wanting to know, but hopefully I did.
M.A. Carlson really is a good author, I really liked this book. I don't know if there will be a book 2, but there is certainly space for it. The narration was good like I said, and I recommend this book to anyone who likes litrpgs.

1 person found this helpful

A fun twist on some familiar tropes

This was a cool, if somewhat crunchy, tower climber. The MC fights through floor after floor of his own demons, both literally and figuratively, as he attempts to figure out how to escape Purgatory, and understand its hidden rules. Each floor has a theme based off one of the seven deadly sins. Touches on some existential ideas that I appreciated, and held my interest till the end. Even has your obligatory snarky sidekick/summon to help move the story along. The team of narrators did a great job too.

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very well done

M.A. Carlson is becoming one of my favorite litrpg writers. iv listened to all but one of his audio books so far and this is one of my favorites; not just of his, but all litrpgs ov listened too.

this one is different then most. its not just being trapped in a game or transported to another world, not just the normal stats, not that there is anything wrong with those. i do enjoy them but this one is different. i dont want to say to much and ruin anything.

the story progression is very good as well as the character development and world building.
dont let the religious stuff throw you off of the book. its not preachy if your against that stuff. its about a sinner and his purgatory. im sure that you ( the reader of this review) have listened to others or watched shows that take from religions and used them without realizing. the way that its used is done well.

the narrators did a great job with this. such a good job that i want to check out other books that they did and see if im intrested in them.

i cant wait for the next book.

if your on the fence. this one is a good pick up in the genre.

Not for everyone, but not bad.

The story is entirely religious in nature, which may turn off some readers. The beginning and middle is fairly slow, and I debated not moving past the 2 hour mark, but it picks up towards the end with only a few slower parts.

The ending is interesting and lines up the series to have a more exciting book 2.

The narrators are hit or miss. They all are certainly skilled and produced high quality recordings, but the voices and certain pronunciations are likely not for everyone. I had no complaints - finding 1.2x the best speed for a pleasant listening.

A lot better than I expected

I’ll start of by saying I didn’t have much faith in this being a good book, but lo and behold it turned our wonderful. The plot was mostly whole (spoiler near the end that explains why it annoyed me) the progression was steady and didn’t contain many plot holes there. And the story line was good. There were a few twists to the story but otherwise it was average. The narrators did a good job though I did get the main character and a second called Billy’s voice accents combined but otherwise, everything was good

I won’t spoil it much but what I’m going to say here is considered a spoiler so continue at your own risk. the only thing that annoyed me is the fact the main character lived his life as the boss of hustlers but doesn’t like to barter/haggle or have any resistance to people trying to manipulate/influence him. That’s what

Fun

Had it sitting in Kindle Unlimited for awhile, but got the push to actually start it when the audio version came out. Fun grindy LitRPG story. Had some interesting points.